Reconciliation is a Godly Principle and God will Protect Those Who Honor Him by Scott S. Powell The restoration of an obscure monument in Arlington Cemetery known as the Reconciliation Monument may serve as the catalyst and spiritual portal that brings America back to its origin in greatness as the nation of “e pluribus unum”--meaning one out of many.
In a recent post on X, Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth reiterated that the reinstatement of the 1914 Reconciliation Monument, which celebrates the bringing together of the South and the North after decades of post-Civil War division, was important because it fosters the unity of America, and its removal by “woke lemmings" in December 2023 was inconsistent with honesty and openness about the past. The secretary added: "Unlike the Left, we don't believe in erasing American history – we honor it."
Most Americans may not realize the full cultural and spiritual significance of restoring this monument to its rightful place in Arlington Cemetery. In this time of intense spiritual warfare against traditional values and Constitutional America, we certainly need to preserve and restore historical monuments. But we also need to go on the offense and uphold the American values that inspired these great markers of history. And the Reconciliation Monument compels such action better than any other monument in Arlington and beyond.
The Reconciliation Monument, called by some as the Confederate Monument, displays four cinerary urns (one for each year of the Civil War), a frieze of fourteen shields representing the eleven Confederate states and the border states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, and thirty-two life-sized action figures. Most prominent is a Romanesque woman in a flowing gown with a plow and a pruning hook. Lower on the base is inscribed Isaiah 2, v 4: “They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”
Recommended
More than any other monument in Arlington Cemetery, the Reconciliation Monument captures the essence of what makes America great: the willingness to see our faults, forgive our transgressors, the quest for unity, and the celebration of beauty and freedom. Also noteworthy is that while some have called it the Christmas Monument because of the Christian values it represents, Reconciliation was conceived, designed, and executed by the distinguished Jewish sculptor Moses Ezekial, who had served in the Civil War. In the 2 foremost rank of American sculptors, Ezekial made the ideals of the spiritual and Godly, the Greek sense of beauty, and the American outlook of freedom uniquely visible through his sculptural works.
The Reconciliation Monument has always been one of the most beautiful tributes in Arlington Cemetery. So impressive is the monument, that to fully digest the symbolism and the nuances of meaning of the many panels in its decorative band-frieze, requires time and many visits.
The inspiration for the Reconciliation Monument started with President William McKinley, the 25 th president. McKinley had served on the Union side in the Civil War, and was troubled by lingering division between the North and the South for decades after the war was over. However, as president during Spanish American War in 1898, McKinley witnessed the impressive contribution that enlistees and officers from the South made. These Southerners, who fought valiantly side by side with soldiers from the North, enabled a surprisingly swift victory in less than four months.
McKinley then envisioned a reconciliation monument as a way of celebrating success of a reunified Nation, which emerged at the end of the Spanish American War—an event that also marked the arrival of the United States as a leading power in the world. This theme of respect and reconciliation between the northern and southern states was also supported by the next three presidents (two Republicans and one Democrat)—Teddy Roosevelt, Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. Wilson, who unveiled the monument in Arlington Cemetery in 1914, proclaimed that “the monument represented the best of America—a spirit of reconciliation, democracy, freedom, heroism and patriotism.” Not only did they believe in the importance of reconciliation, but every president thereafter—Democrat and Republican—up until Obama agreed and continued the tradition by laying a wreath at the foot of the monument every Memorial Day.
Early in this piece I mentioned that America was in the midst of intense spiritual warfare against traditional values and its Constitutional government—truly a battle for the nation’s survival. As it turns out, the battle over the Reconciliation Monument has been a lightning rod, which reveals how good and evil operate, and is instructive in discerning what is good from what is evil.
People and movements that pursue reconciliation, forgiveness, unity based on truth, honesty, morality, transparency, goodwill, beauty, merit, and respect for the past can be trusted. Those who foster vice, secrecy, divisiveness, hatred, dishonesty, destruction, lawlessness, fear and rewriting of history cannot be trusted. The book of Isaiah that Ezekial quoted is a promise of God’s faithfulness, love, and compassion. Its removal marked a deconsecration of Arlington’s hallowed ground. Its restoration is a triumph.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which turns out to have been a man-made virus that arrived in America in early 2020 was also accompanied by a willful effort to exploit conditions brought on by COVID. In hindsight, it’s easy to see how COVID-19 was driven by fear and used to diminish church and synagogue attendance, precipitate urban violence and lawlessness, make the rich richer while causing many small businesses to fail, and facilitate massive vote fraud that brought Joe Biden, open borders and the autopen to power.
COVID-19 and the George Floyd riots also catalyzed the removal of some 260 historic monuments and statues across America. Most will probably never be restored.
So, it is hugely significant that Defense Secretary Hegseth has taken a hard stand in the restoration of the Reconciliation Monument. Being one of America’s most important monuments with powerful symbolic and spiritual significance, such an accomplishment is a vital key to an important door for America’s spiritual revival.
Scott S. Powell is senior fellow at Discovery Institute, a member of Defend Arlington, and the Committee on the Present Danger-China. His timeless book, Rediscovering America, was the number one Amazon New Release in the history genre for eight weeks. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637581599. Reach him at scottp@discovery.org
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join Townhall VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member